It was saturday afternoon and I was finally getting a break from school. I was so excited it was the weekend, so i got on my phone like any teenager tends to do and to my surprise there was a bunch of messages from my friends groupchat. So i opened the groupchat and saw the longest text message I have ever seen, and as I read the text my mouth was wide open, one of my friends had gotten in a car accident. One of my friends had crashed on the interstate. She said that all she remembered was driving back home from church late at night and her GPS had stopped working. She didnt know her exit and as she got on her phone, her car rammed into the guard rail in the middle of the interstate. She was only three feet away from where the guard rail ended and could have flown into the other side to oncoming traffic. Thankfully she was not hurt but that could have ended way worse. 

When I think of impaired driving, I often think of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This can absolutely be true but I also think that impaired driving is not being fully present while driving, being distracted by something else. Something as little as what my friend did, which was just picking up her phone can be considered impaired driving simply because now your attention is not fully on driving. Something that we might think sounds minimal can cause damage when in certain circumstances. For example, my friend picking up her phone might have not been as dangerouse if she was not on the interstate and if it was not night time. 

I think the most common types of impairements among drivers today are texting and fatigue. Texting is one that anyone can be tempted to do because it can be so easy and convinient to just quickly send a text, but it is far more dangerous than we think. When we do this we are not only putting our lifes in danger but also the lifes of those around us. When we text and drive we can easily lose concentration and not be aware of what is going on in front of us because we are looking down at our phones. The same thing goes with fatigue. When we are tired we dont react as quickly to situations and we are not fully present. We risk our bodies falling asleep on us and our eyes closing up while driving. 

When i read the text that my friend sent me it made me realized how important it is to know where you are going and be prepared on what to do if your GPS or something else fails you. I have also had a relative die because of someone else's impaired driving and the reality is that driving with any of these distractions is not just affecting you but other people's loved ones. Its sad how so many people just don't care about the results of their actions.

Driver's education and traffic school courses can help change the attitudes and behaviors around impaired driving in many ways. First of all courses can increase awareness of consequences. These courses explain the cost of driving under the influence like licsense suspension, jail time and increased insurance rates. With the real time stories and statistics about crashes and deaths, students can understand the seriousness of impaired driving. These courses can also teach decision-making skills. When you learn how alcohol and drugs affect judgement, reaction time and coordination, it can help you make a wiser decision. When students hear the stories of survivors or families if victims, it can help foster a feeling of empathy and accountability. When these programs promote a culture of safety, young drivers can become advocates for responsible driving. Driver's education and traffic school courses not only teach rules, but change the way people think and feel about impaired driving.

I can help prevent impaired driving by I myself making the right choices. I can't control how people act but I can control how I act and drive. Telling people around me about the effects of impaired driving and my example when driving can influence others to make safer decisions. When I don't give in to the peer pressure of alcohol and drugs I am being an advocate for responsible driving. Even the things that seem small like texting and driving or just being a little tired while driving can be fatal, so it is best when we avoid those situations and drive responsible to help keep us and those around us safe.